IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| India and Tibet : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
264 THE NEGOTIATIONS
I received him, as, indeed, I had received the Tibetans
all through, at official interviews, in full dress uniform,
with all my Political Staff in similar dress. He made the
usual polite inquiries, and then said that he wished to
work -with me in effecting a speedy settlement with the
Tibetans. He had hoped to meet me before, and had
hastened to Lhasa at unusual speed, but the Tibetans had
refused to furnish him with transport, and he had, there-
fore, been unable to proceed beyond Lhasa. I said I
quite appreciated the difficulties he must have had with
the Tibetans, for I had had some experience of them now,
and a more obstructive people I had never come across.
He agreed that they were an exceedingly obstinate people.
He said he feared I must have had a very unpleasant time
at Gyantse, and I told him that we had come there to
negotiate, and not to fight, and therefore had very few
soldiers with us at the time the attack was made. Later
on, General Macdonald arrived with reinforcements, and
the Tibetans had to suffer heavily for their misconduct.
On the present occasion, however, we had come ready
either to negotiate or to fight. We were prepared to
negotiate ; but if the Tibetans were obstinate, we would
not hesitate to fight. I should be glad if he would impress 4
upon the Tibetans with all his power that we were no
longer to be trifled with.
I added that one of the conditions we intended to
impose was an indemnity, to cover part of the cost of mili- _
tary operations, and I should be asking them Rs. 50,000
per diem from the date the Mission was attacked up to a
month after the date the Convention was signed. Every
day they took in negotiation would cost them Rs. 50,000,
so the sooner they concluded an agreement the better.
The Amban thought this would be an effective way of
dealing with them, and he promised to urge the Tibetans
to be reasonable, and make a settlement without further
loss of time.
The Resident made a special present of food to the
troops, and he had already, at my request, collected two
days' supplies.
The next day I had to return his visit, and now arose
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